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Ex-CNN producer from CT who lured girl, 9, into sex acts settles lawsuit

BRIDGEPORT — A former CNN television producer, sentenced earlier this year to 19 and half years in prison for luring a 9-year-old girl into illegal sexual acts, has agreed Tuesday to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of the girl.

John Griffin, a former Norwalk and Stamford resident, agreed to settle the case as it was being prepared for trial in Superior Court in Bridgeport.

“John Griffin is glad to put the federal criminal case and state court civil case behind him,” said his lawyer, Robert Berke.

Details of the settlement were not disclosed. According to court documents, Griffin had previously agreed to put aside an undisclosed sum of money in the eventuality that he lost the civil case.

“The case is resolved. Due to confidentiality I’m unable to discuss details,” said Joel Faxon, the lawyer for the now 11-year-old girl.

In June, the 46-year-old Griffin was sentenced to prison followed by an additional 15 years of supervised release in U.S. District Court in Vermont after he pleaded guilty to using interstate commerce to entice and coerce the girl to engage in sexual activity at his Vermont ski house.

According to the federal indictment, in 2019, Griffin maintained an Internet site in which he espoused a belief that woman are sexually subservient and he sought parents who would allow him to train their minor daughters to be sexually submissive.

In the summer of 2020, the indictment states, Griffin paid for a mother, who he had met online, and her 9-year-old daughter to fly to Logan Airport in Boston, where he picked them up and drove them to his house in Ludlow, Vermont.

While in Vermont, the indictment states that Griffin engaged in what he considered to be sexual training of the child. This “training” included Griffin forcing the child to perform a sex act with him and using the child to engage in bondage and sado-masochistic activity, the indictment states.

As part of his sentence, Griffin was required to forfeit the Tesla he used to transport the girl and her mother from Boston to Vermont.

“Mr. Griffin preyed on a vulnerable woman and her child, using his wealth to lure them to his home to manipulate and sexually exploit them,” said Janeen DiGuiseppi, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Albany Field Office.

At the time of his arrest Griffin was living in a waterfront mansion in Norwalk with his wife and three children. His wife has since divorced him.